


The Hot Guy Has A Tail?

by betheflame



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Creature Fic, Flirting with Fins, Fluff, M/M, Minor Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, merman steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame
Summary: Tony was used to hallucinating.Well, maybe not used to it, but certainly not unfamiliar with it.But he hadn’t taken any shrooms in days, and he’d actually slept more than 2 hours the night before, so the logical conclusion to what he was seeing was that it was actually happening. The hot guy he’d been ogling from his Intro to Western Civ class for months was in the pool.And he had a tail.The hot guy from Western Civ had a tail.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 38
Kudos: 237
Collections: 2019 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange





	The Hot Guy Has A Tail?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeenAsleepFor70Years](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeenAsleepFor70Years/gifts).



> Merry Happy to BeenAsleepfor70Years, who submitted a "Merman!Steve" prompt as part of the Cap-IM Community Gift Exchange and said they also liked College AUs. Hope this fits the bill!
> 
> Thanks to [HogwartstoAlexandria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria) for the crackerjack beta and for cheering me on when I was stuck. 
> 
> First creature fic, y'all!
> 
> _____
> 
> Update: This one has a PODFIC, y'all, because Only_More_Love is a queen. [Click here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452067) for the genius.

Tony was used to hallucinating.

Well, maybe not used to it, but certainly not unfamiliar with it.

But he hadn’t taken any shrooms in days, and he’d actually slept more than 2 hours the night before, so the logical conclusion to what he was seeing was that it was actually happening. The hot guy he’d been ogling from his Intro to Western Civ class for months was in the pool.

And he had a tail.

The hot guy from Western Civ had a tail.

_Did this mean the hot guy from Western Civ was a mermaid? A merman? A fishman? Aquaman? Were there other options here?_

The lab building that Tony was working out of that semester had an aquapod for the underwater robotics students, but he’d never been down to it and wasn’t actually planning on it. Then that thing that Bruce had been working on exploded and now Tony smelled like burned eggplant and even a shower didn’t seem to help and he figured maybe chlorine would.

2am Tony logic really was something spectacular.

The Hot Fish Guy Hot Mermaid Man was leaning on the edge of the small pool, braced on his elbows and with his head tilted back. His fin/tail/flipper/whateverthefuck ( _Was this seriously happening?_ ) was flapping gently against the surface of the water and it kept catching the light. Tony could identify purple, and green, and touches of gold as the scales shimmered in the low, blue-hued light of the aquatic lab.

Tony had no idea how long he stared, honestly, but it was probably close to five full minutes before Hot Mermaid Man ( _Are all mermen hot? My entire frame of reference is a Disney cartoon and that feels lacking here…_ ) spied Tony and the fin stilled on the surface of the water.

“Tony, right?”

 _It, wait... he. Right? Still a he? Do fish have genders? He knows my name?_ “Um, yeah?”

“Is that a question because you don’t know your name or because you’ve never seen an incarnated water spirit before and you’re feeling overwhelmed?”

“A what now?”

The self-identified Incarnated Water Spirit turned towards Tony and he nearly swallowed his tongue. A side profile of the creature/man’s chest was potent enough but this full view? Just kill me now.

“Water spirits don’t always take on corporeal form, so when one of us does, we’re an incarnated version of ourselves.”

“Right, okay, sure, and yes, I know my name, it’s the latter,” Tony confirmed.

“Completely understandable,” the IWS smiled at Tony. “Steve, by the way. We have Western Civ together.”

“So is the tail a Mr. Potato Head situation where you can just put it away?”

Steve blinked a few times and swam towards Tony, who was still rooted in his spot by the door. “I have gotten versions of that question for the last six years and that’s absolutely the weirdest way it’s ever gotten asked.”

Tony barked out a laugh that echoed across the chamber. “I do aim to be original.”

“Success,” Steve grinned and Tony nearly swooned. _He is half-fish, Stark. Can you keep your damn dick in check?_

“Am I in your way?” Steve continued when Tony didn’t respond to his earlier comment. “I’m only here a few days a month, so if you have a schedule -”

“A few days a month?” Tony interrupted.

Steve nodded. “It’s kinda a long story.”

Tony checked his watch. “I smell like someone set eggplant parm that was wrapped in tires on fire, and directly huffing bleach to get the smell out of my nostrils was sounding dangerously tempting so my plan was to prune myself in chlorine for a while. I got time.”

“Do I want to know?”

“You tell me about the scales, I’ll tell you about my absent minded lab partner, deal?”

Steve flashed that smile again and Tony undressed quickly and climbed into the pool.

* * *

Beautiful Tony from Western Civ is _here_.

Steve had known who opened the door the minute it had happened for two reasons. One, the curse came with heightened hearing and Tony had been muttering to himself in the hallway and two, when you’ve been covertly staring at someone as long as Steve had at Tony, you got to know them.

_Of all the goddamn people on this campus who have to see me like this, it has to be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in my life because that is how this works. Of course it is._

He’d tried his best to play it cool, to not let Tony know his heart was pounding nearly out of his chest and that he was panicking over how to explain everything and so it was an incredible relief when Tony slid into the water next to him.

It was even more of a relief when Steve noticed Tony’s hands reach to touch his tail, but withdrew. If Tony was curious, that was a lot better than terrified. Curious, Steve could work with.

“It’s a curse,” Steve started. “My ma, she made a deal with a demon when I was little and this is the result.”

“I honestly don’t know what’s harder to believe,” Tony blinked a few times. “That being a super hot water spirit is a curse, or that a demon would think it’s one.”

Steve laughed and flicked his tail to wrap around Tony’s ankle, gratified by the other man’s slight shiver. _He wants to flirt, I’ll show him flirting._

“I was sick, a lot,” Steve started, “as a kid. Like, _a lot_ a lot, and she worked hourly gigs with no health insurance. I grew up in New York, so we went over to Weehawken in Jersey and there’s a bunch of crossroads there where you can summon bargaining demons.”

“Sure,” Tony shrugged, “everything is legal in New Jersey.”

“She bargained for my health and she got it - but the problem was that she ended up dying before she could fully fulfill her end of the bargain, so I got the leftovers. Every full moon, for three days, I’m this.”

“Is an incarnated water spirit also called a merman?” Tony ventured, clearly not sure of the nomenclature.

Steve nodded.

“And this will be true forever?”

Once again, Steve nodded. “I’m not interested in making any more deals with demons, so I’ve just kind of resigned myself. Thankfully, the full moon happens on a regular schedule, so it’s not hard to plan, and it’s only at night. I’ve got legs during the day.”

“That is the weirdest curse,” Tony muttered. “Fucker must have a fetish.”

“There was that Cursed Humans of the Month calendar he made me pose for,” Steve deadpanned and Tony snorted.

“So your plan is to just be here every night during your curse cycle all year?”

Steve nodded. “Or the larger pool. There was a diving meet tonight, but the sign-ups for here was empty, so I went for here.”

Tony cocked his head. “Do you have a plan for when both are in use?”

“A bathtub?”

“Handsome, there isn’t a bathtub on this campus that would fit your shoulder span, much less that tail. I’ll think of something.”

Steve made a face. “I’m not your problem to solve.”

“Who said you were?”

“You just said you’d think of something, and I didn’t ask you to,” Steve snapped. “This is my burden and I’ll handle it.”

“Sure, that’s stupid because I already have about six solutions right now that would make your life easier but if you’re going to be that way, fine,” Tony snapped back, but inched closer to Steve.

“I’ll handle it,” Steve retorted.

“You said that.” Tony’s words came out on a breath and Steve could see his pupil’s dilate.

“I did,” Steve said and did not know how much longer he could keep from just -

And then Tony’s lips were on his and he didn’t need to answer.

* * *

“Did you hear that Stark switched projects?”

Bruce looked up from his microscope with a start to see his friend/object-of-daydreams Natasha leaning against the door to his lab. “I did not.”

“Uh huh,” Nat smirked. “From artificial intelligence to self-directed underwater rovers. Signed out the aquatic lab on overnights for one week each month for the rest of the year.”

“Okay,” Bruce shrugged and turned his attention back to his microscope.

“He didn’t care about underwater anything until he started dating that swimmer,” she continued. “You know, the fast one that’s always in the paper? The one they say is part fish?”

“Steve Rogers,” Bruce supplied.

“Yeah.”

“Nat, was there a point?”

“Well, now that he’s not basically living here, we have the room to ourselves,” Nat remarked and Bruce straightened to his full height.

“You’re not a bio major, Natasha.”

“No, but I was considering dating one.”

Bruce blinked a few times. “Then I’m glad Stark started dating a fish.”

“You and me both, Brucie,” Nat smiled as she flicked the lock on the lab door and crossed the room to his station. “You and me both.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] The Hot Guy Has A Tail?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452067) by [only_more_love](https://archiveofourown.org/users/only_more_love/pseuds/only_more_love)




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